Egg-shipping receptacle



Mmm 25 192 l. V. EDGERTON EGG SHIPPING RECEPTAGLE Filed Oct. 26. 1921lltl tti

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ISRAEL V. EDGER'ION, OF CBICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 0F ONE-HALF T0 JESSEGRT AND ONE-HALF T V. E.

GRANT, BOTH 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

EGG-SHIPPING RECEPTACLE.

Application tiled October 26, 1921.

To all 'whom t may concern:

lBe it known that I, ISRAEL V. EDGERTON,

a citizen of the United States. residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State ofv Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Egg-Shipping Re ceptacles, of which the following is aspec1- tication. V

This invention relates to packing receptacles used in the storage andshipment o'f eggs, and is concer-ned particularly with the provision insuch receptacles of an improved spacing and cushioning constructionassociated with the interior egg-containing cellular structures commonlyemployed.

rIhe main and primary object of the present invention is the provision,with a plurality of superposed tiers of horizontally arranged cellshaving vertical side walls, of horizontally positioned separating sheetsin terposed between the tiers and provided with mea-ns serving both toprevent horizontal shiftingot the tiers relative to the sheets withwhich they are in contact and to form a cushion for absorbing verticalshocks which would otherwise be transmitted undiminished from saidsheets to the eggs contained within said tiers.

Another important object of the invention is the provision of ahorizontal separating sheet such as described which may be manu facturedat a low cost and used in connection with the ordinary cellular fillerwhereby to edect a substantial pecuniary savings by cutting down thepercentage of eggs which have heretofore been lost through breakage whenthe ordinary plain separating sheet was employed.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a separatingsheet such as described which is not characterized by a complicatedconstruction but is, on the other and, as 'easy to use in practice asthe ordinary unecient separating sheet that it is designed to replace.

Other objects and advantages of the invention which are not specificallyset forth will be obvious upon a full understanding'of the construction,ot the device as obtained from the disclosure operation and dispositionSerial No. 510,622.

in the following specification and accompanying sheet of drawings.

lVhile this disclosure is confined to one preferred structuralembodiment vof the invention and to two slightly modiied forms thereof,it is to be understood that the same is presented here entirely for thepurpose of illustration, and is not intended to be construed as limitingthe invention as defined by the claims short of its true and mostcomprehensive scope in the art.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a case containing the interiorcellular structure with which this invention is concerned;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of Fig. 2; and

, Figs. 4, and 5 are similar 3 but show slightly modiiied separatingsheet.

In these views the numeral is used to indicate'the wooden egg case ofwel] known construction in which is positioned a plurality of superposedtiers 11 in cellular structures which are commonly known in the art as-iillers Each of these fillers is constructed of a plurality of spacedparallel strips 12 of straw board or similar material which arepositioned on edge and intersected perpendicularly by other similarlyarranged stripsy 12 whereby to form a plurality of square horizontallyarranged egg-receiving cells 13 having vertical side walls. It will benoted from the drawings that the length of each of the strips 12 isequal to either of the horizontal interior measurements of thecompartment of the case 10 in whichv the fillers seat, and that narrowend cells ifi are formed in each filler about the periphery thereofbetween the sides of the case and the egg cells bordering thereonbecause of the fact that the side strips necessarily intersect the otherstrips a short distance from their ends and leave fin-like extensions 15which form the vertical portions between the said narrow end cells.

Heretofore it has been the practice to insert between each two of thellers above views to Fig. forms of the *described a plain square sheetof straw board. These sheets are of such size as to lit snugly withinthe compartment of the case, and serve to support the layers of eggswhich are held in s aced lateral relation by the vertical side wa ls ofthe fillers.

In the absence of a better separating means which may be manufacturedwithout a too greatly increased cost and which can be used in practicewithout slowing up the work of packing, the plain sheet described in theparagraph above has been used to a great extent, but the loss occurringthrough breakage of eggs in transit with this construction is quitelarge. This is due to the fact that when the egg crate receives a sideor end jolt of any kind, such as the shocks which are constantlyoccurring in a railway car or truck during transit, the eggs in eachlayer tend to shift laterally in the fillers with the momentum of theircombined weights, and, since there is no connection between the fillersand separating sheets serving to anchor the former kto the latter, thenarrow end cells 14 of the fillers are soon crushed and the eggs poundeddisastrously against the hard side of the crate to which they arethereby exposed.

In order to obviate the occurrence of just such breakage as abovedescribed, the separating means which forms the essence of the presentinvention has been developed. This separating means, which serves bothas a cushion to protect the eggs against vertically transmitted jars andas a shock-absorber to protect the eggs against horizontally transmittedjolts, is inexpensively formed as a square sheet 16 of stif straw boardor the like, on the upper surface of which is provided parallel strips17 of straw board having flat under layers secured substantiallythroughout their areas to the sheet `and transversely corrugated upperlayers secured in their depressions to the under layers.

.As shown in Fig. 1, these strips are spaced from each other only asuiicient distance to permit the seating between each two of one of thepartitions strips -12 o f the filler thereabove, and the two end stripsare spaced inwardly from the margins of the sheet. The strips 12 of thefiller at right angles to the strips 12 seated between the corrugatedstrips rest in the depressions 18 between adjacent ribs 19 of thecorrugations.

It will be obvious from this arrangement that a secure locking is hadbetween each separating sheet 16 and the filler 11 resting thereon.Beca-use of this interlocking ofthe sheet 16 with each of the verticalside walls of the filler thereabove, any tendency of the filler to shifthorizontally, due to the weight of the eggs contained therein, isequally distributed and absorbed over the surface of the sheet, and thedanger of crushing the narrow end cells 14 which space the eggs from thesides of the crate 10, is entirely obviated.

While these strips of corrugations are preferably formed on one face ofthe sheet 16 by the securement of corrugated strips thereto, it iswithin the contemplation of this invention to provide these corrugationsintegrally with the sheet by stampin them in the surface thereof, asshown in ig. 5. It is also within the contemplation of this invention toprovide the corrugations both upon the upper and lower surfaces of thesheet as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, whereby each sheet will have both thefillers above and below interlocked therewith. Although the corrugationsreferred to have been described and illustrated as being formed in stris, it should be understood that, if found esirable in someconstructions, the strips of corrugations may terminate abruptly atinter vals corresponding to the positions of the partition strips 15across their paths whereupon the corrugated surface of the sheet willconsist of a plurality of closely arranged corrugated squares withspacing for the bottom edges of the partitions 12 between the adjacentsides thereof. It should be further understood that these corrugations,while having` been described and illustrated as parallel furrows andridges, may be formed in any shape or manner in so far as the resultsgiven by such formations are substantially identical with the resultsderived when the parallel furrows and ridges are employed.

I claim:

1. The combination with a filler member containing a plurality of openended cells having vertical side walls, of a sheet for supporting thefiller member and the eggs contained within the cells thereof, saidsheet being provided on one surface with closely placed parallel stripsof transversely running corrugations which cover substantially all ofthe area of said surface within the cells in the filler member and arespaced inwardly from the margin of the sheet along the outer sides ofthe two end strips.

2. The combination with a filler member containing a plurality of openended cells having vertical side walls, of a sheet for Supporting thefiller member and the eggs contained within the cells thereof, saidsheet being smooth on one surface and being provided on the othersurface with closely vplaced parallel strips having thereon similarshaped strips of transversely runningr corrugations which coversubstantially all of the area of said surface within the cells of thefiller and are spaced inwardly from the margin of the sheet along theends of all the strips and the outer sides of the two end strips.

3. A. sheet of the character described, prol vided on one surface withclosely arranged parallel strips of straw board hav'in,f r flat underlayers secured substantially throughout their areas tothe sheet andtransversely corrugated upper layers secured in their depressions to theunder layers, the outer sides of the two end strips beingr spacedinwardly from the adjacent margins of the sheet,

ISAEL V. EDGERTON.

